Elementary particles, nuclei, atoms, molecules, solid matter, living matter, planets, stars, galaxies, universe. In a paradoxical coincidence, matter seems to self-organize into ten successive levels of complexity, starting from its elementary building blocks and reaching the universe as a whole.

And roughly in the middle of this scale, living matter appears. That form of material organization, which through an evolutionary process of billions of years has managed to gain awareness of itself and the whole, and to reflect on the laws that allowed it to reach self-knowledge.

In this second volume, seven distinguished scientists and authors discuss these ten scales of matter, describe the most representative achievements of modern physics at each scale, and explore the horizons of our ignorance on major pending questions.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]